Today was the first day we had some rain and the temperature was below 25°C. We decided to ignore the bad weather and head to Mount Saint Helens as planned. Climbing the mountain by car, we came across some very curvy roads covered in fog. It’s a good thing that we had a map from the Information Centre and the locations were indicated with signs otherwise we might have got lost.
With a day pass (which only cost $5) we were able to view all trails on the mountain. The first trail we did was through lava mountains. The mountain quite literally exploded in 1980 and the top of the mountain got projected throughout the area killing over 50 people. The lava stream that poured out of the mountain has left beautiful mountains though. The explosion also opened up an underground river which leads to a waterfall. The path that leads to the waterfall is described as ‘difficult’ and that is no lie indeed. This trail is quite steep and small and slippery. As we didn’t want to risk our lives, it was only a one-way route and there was nothing to see at the end, we decided to return after seeing the waterfall.
Our second trail was less adventurous. This was called the ‘Trail of Two Forests’. Patrick believes the name was given because there is an underground forest and an above ground forest. This area of Saint Helens got burnt when the lava poured over the land. This results in holes in the ground where trees used to stand. Some of these holes have collapsed under the weight of the lava. Other holes are big enough to crawl through.
Then we drove to another site marked on the map of USA as a must-see location, the ‘Ice Caves’. I suppose in winter time that these are much more impressive but knowing the weather outside is 26°C and there is still ice 2 meter under the ground in an open cave, is already pretty amazing on its own.
As it was already 5 o’clock at this time, we needed to get moving to Bend. On this 6 hour drive, we saw some amazing landscapes from the car.
A last view on Mount Saint Helens…
A toll bridge in Hood River over the Colombia River…
The Colombia River, border between Washington and Oregon, which followed us along route 84…
Square mountains…
Curvy mountains…
Farmland mountains as far as the eye can see…
Desert mountains…
Big distant mountains…
Until we reached Bend in the dark…
Keep Calm and Drive South 
Must have been awesome to drive with this scenery, Marijke, did you drive?
Hey, so far the views have indeed been amazing. I didn’t drive yet though… I’m afraid I’m going to crash our car and it needs to be alive for still a few months at least 🙂
Just started reading your blog. Realy nice, clear and funy!
I’ve been viewing your locations on google maps so i can get a more geographic overview of the trip. So far, very nice sceneries and locations. Looking forward to view and read some more! Enjoy Crater lake! 🙂
Heya, cool dat je ons ook volgt! 🙂 Je kan de locaties ook via de ‘Where we are’ volgen. Pat stuurt af en toe een signaal en dan geeft die weer waar we zitten. 🙂 Crater Lake was supermooi maar we konden jammer genoeg niet lang blijven omdat we nogal ver moesten rijden de volgende dag.